My Taylor Sign Contri

Qui Tam Booty?

This is a photograph of Kathy Taylor's private jet [actually, it belongs to 1132 Investment Company, which is owned by Mr. Kathy Taylor, aka Bill Lobeck]. What do you think this Learjet 31a [serial number 28] would fetch should the citizens be successful in hitting the city in a tax payer's law suit, more appropriately known as a "Qui Tam," action?

This jet also serves as an iconic reminder that millionaire Mayor's have no problem with transferring a mere $7 million over to a billionaire.

Just in case she might decide to fly the jet to another locale to keep our mitts off it as possible settlement assets, I'll be giving the taxpayers a weekly update on The Chris Medlock Show as to where the jet is, and where it has been that week.

If you would like to do this yourself, you can do so at:

"The 411 on KT's 31a." Enjoy.

Richard Studenny Off the Hook?

[Note: I ran the audio from the video that I shot at the Airport meeting and then ran it through a graphic equalizer. With the audio cleaned up and headphones on, I realized I miss heard the Airport Board's position on this. The Board will retain their claims against Studenny. This doesn't mean that Studenny doesn't get a free pass. The best friends he has within city government are at the airports. We'll see if they ever press the courts for his money.]

I attended the special meeting of the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust that was held at 8:30 AM in Room 1101 of the Tulsa City Hall. Even though this was on the same floor and mere feet from Mayor Taylor's office, Kathy Taylor never appeared during the meeting.

All board members were present in the room with the exception of Meredith Siegfried, who was on a speaker phone as she was in Singapore on business.

The meeting was late starting and relatively brief. There were few surprises, but one jumped out at me. Richard Studenny, the attorney for the Tulsa Industrial Authority AND TAIT [the lender AND the borrower] back when the Great Plains deal was cooked up, will potentially be given a free pass. 

TIA, and indirectly BOK, was going after Mr. Studenny's malpractice and/or errors and omissions insurance to recoup their financial losses. Studenny was fired, after a too lengthy drama in the media, by then Mayor Bill LaFortune. It was always speculated that Studenny knew where "all the bodies" were buried at the Tulsa Airport. 

Now with Kathy Taylor's rushed and hushed settlement, the word is that both the bank, and TIA will waive any claim to Studenny's insurance. This let's him off free and clear, unless the City Council and/or the mayor muster the political will to pursue him in court. Remember though, this will be a brand new law suit and the clock and the cash machine will have to begin anew.

What's that smell? Can you smell that smell?

Council Powerless to Stop Taylor?

I have it on very good authority that the Tulsa City Council can do nothing to delay Mayor Kathy Taylor from giving away $7 million in Tulsa taxpayer funds to the Bank of Oklahoma. The resolution the Council will be voting on Thursday night is to "survey" the Sinking Fund, to see if there are sufficient monies available to cover the Mayor's action.

This surveying of the Sinking Fund is considered to be a "ministerial" action which a previous City Attorney, Alan Jackere told the Council when I was a member, that the council is duty bound to certify the figures, if they are true. Ironically, Jackere is the same City Attorney that told the Council in 2005 that the city had no legal obligation to make good on Bank of Oklahoma's bad loan to TIA via TAIT. Doubly ironic is the fact that Jackere was run out of his position early in Taylor's term of office because she alleged that Jackere and Larry Simmons (another staunch opponent within city legal to giving money to BOK) mishandled a law suit against a man improperly prosecuted, which (triply ironic) cost the tax payers millions of dollars from the city's Sinking Fund.

With these two gentlemen gone, can then rely on her appointee as City Attorney, Deidre Dexter, to tell her everything is hunky-dory with the transfer of funds. Remember too, that Dexter is the first City Attorney in recent memory that is employed as one of Taylor's sixteen at-will employees. This means she can also be fired at will. Draw your own conclusions.

The last time the council voted down a "ministerial" action was when it voted not to approve the plat for the F&M Bank that was eventually built at 71st and Harvard. When the Council took that action, F&M filed suit against the councilors individually, threatening their personal assets. Since it took a majority of councilors to deny the plat, a majority of the council were named in the suit. As such, no majority of the council could be mustered to vote to give the councilors [me included] the legal services of City Legal. As such, each councilor was forced to hire their own counsel.

It is quite doubtful that the current councilors will take such a risk to stop this action, given the determined legal actions BOK has been taking to get their money back. Thus, Kathy Taylor will be able to claim that she made the transfer of money with the blessings of the Council.

At best, the council could safely delay the action for a week or two, giving the voters time to muster some political pressure from the public to stop the Mayor.

There will be an 8:30 AM special meeting of the Tulsa Airport Improvement Trust in Room 1101 of City Hall. This is the Mayor's main conference room. It is ostensibly open to the public, but also very likely that they will move to enter executive session to handle the really dicey stuff the Mayor doesn't want the public to know.

Later that evening, the Council will meet at 5 PM to "survey" the Sinking Fund and then will vote on it as a "Mayors Item," during their regular Thursday night meeting.

The citizens of the city of Tulsa need to pack the place and speak out against this waste of our tax dollars. Give the City Council some political cover to delay this, thus assuring the Mayor will pay a political price if she proceeds.

Kathy Taylor to Pay Off Great Plains Despite Former BOK Ties?

The hot scuttle-butt down at City Hall is that Kathy Taylor is planning to sign over millions of Tulsa tax payer dollars to the Bank of Oklahoma for a questionable loan made regarding the Great Plains Airlines fiasco.

Word is that Friday morning she will meet with the Tulsa City Council in a special meeting to inform them of the deal. She will be using her full authority to bind the city to a contract, so she can act without the approval of the City Council.

Since the meeting is not regularly scheduled, it will not appear on TGOV. Anyone with a video camera and some time should plan to be at the meeting.

The timing of the deal on a Friday is obviously intended to minimize media attention. It appears she's planned this for a time when many Tulsans will be on vacation.

My sources have been telling me this has been coming for some time, but the speed of this move astounds those I have spoken with today.

For more on this, tune in to the Chris Medlock Show today at 2 PM on 1170, KFAQ AM.

Rick "Choo Choo" Westcott

I've been making a great deal about Rick Westcott's seeming obsession with Amtrak and light rail. Seems he's more concerned and spends more time trying to get an antiquated mode of transportation brought to our city than he is in optimizing the current mode of transportation in his district.

Where are we, Councilor Westcott, on the widening of Lewis Ave from 61st to 76th streets? Randi Miller first got that project into the 3rd Penny in 2001 and I had to fight to get it refunded in 2006 when the '01 tax fell short. I was promised it would be among the first projects funded in the new tax, and yet the downtown streets are getting repaired ahead of them.

Why aren't you screaming to the heavens?

I understand that the project would've hurt the city's ability to host the PGA Championship last Summer, but we should've seen orange barrels first thing this Spring.

Time for you to review your priorities, Councilor.

Oklahoma Gay Democrats Pushing Boudaries of Good Taste

This ad appeared recently in the Oklahoma Gazette [basically OKC's version of Urban Tulsa Weekly].

What do you think? Offensive? What if you're a WWII vet or a Marine? Does the radical gay lobby have to pervert every iconic image important to traditional Americans?

I know I won't interview any of the candidates listed as being supported by this group without asking them for an apology to our vets, first.

Wonder what Andrew Rice is thinking about this? Given that he has a Masters Degree from a Unitarian-Universalist divinity school, it can't be helping his chances to have such extremist ads making him look anything but the centrist.